The idea was originated by the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer during the development stages of season three. The setting of this season takes place in the summer of 1985, so they knew they wanted to emphasize that time period.

In a joint email statement with The New York Times, the Duffer Brothers said, “It was the summer of ’85, and when you talk about pop culture moments, New Coke was a really big deal. It would have been more bizarre to not include it.”

New Coke was Coca-Cola’s new formula, which had more sugar than both the original formula and their main competitor, Pepsi.

It originally failed because Coca-Cola made the decision to completely eliminate the original formula and replace it with New Coke, which consumers were not happy with.

The original Coke was brought back soon after that, and regardless of Coca-Cola’s attempts at rebranding New Coke multiple times, it was eventually scrapped for good in 2002.

Source: Throwbacks

Depsite its past failure with New Coke, Coca-Cola agreed to this partnership.

Stuart Kronauge, President of Coke’s Sparkling Business Unit and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Coca-Cola North America, told CNN Business that this opportunity is a way for Coca-Cola to “not take ourselves too seriously”and to “break the internet”.

Coca-Cola understands that streaming is quickly becoming more popular than traditional television, so it’s a smart and logical marketing strategy for them to partner with Netflix and an already record-breaking show.

As far as bringing back a failed product? Well, people may not actually enjoy the taste of it but the limited supply factor of it will definitely entice people to buy it, just for bragging rights.

Either way, the entire internet is already talking about it, bringing in a lot of buzz about season three. This indicates that this partnership is already a success, at least in terms of Coca-Cola’s goal of “breaking the internet”.

About The Author

Laura Wigodner is the Content Marketing Manager for Nex Gen Dynamics. Her lifestyle articles have been featured on Elite Daily, Medium, and Thought Catalog to name a few. She also writes professionally on Content Marketing, Social Media, Branding, and more. A Bradley University Alum with a B.A. in Communications and Creative Writing, Laura loves writing poetry and watching YouTube videos. You can find the Swiftie on Twitter and Instagram, as well as anywhere there is coffee because that is her lifeline.